Jason Sosa vs Yuriorkis Gamboa Fight Video

Yuriorkis Gamboa (27-2, 17 KOs) has just been added to the Nov. 25 HBO card headlined by Sergey Kovalev vs. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy. On this card Gamboa will be filling-in for Robinson Castellanos in a bout against Jason Sosa, with Castellanos withdrawing from the fight because of injury. The fight has been scheduled as a 10-round junior lightweight bout.

Gamboa, 35, was once thought to be one of the very best talents in the entire sport just a few short years ago, but after moving up in weight to face Terence Crawford back in 2014 his career has unraveling rather quickly — and it hasn’t all been due to in-the-ring issues. Nevertheless, Gamboa says he’s excited for the opportunity.

Gamboa (27-2, 17 KOs), 35, a 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist who defected and fights out of Miami, returned on Aug. 12 and won a 10-round decision majority decision in a lightweight fight against Alexis Reyes in Cancun, Mexico, but he struggled.

Gamboa said he was happy to get another chance for a higher-profile fight on the undercard of the vacant light heavyweight title bout between former unified titlist Sergey Kovalev and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.

"I'm excited for this great opportunity to fight Sosa on the undercard of Kovalev-Shabranskyy," Gamboa said. "A win over Sosa on HBO could push me back into title contention. I'm a fighter with many aspects and dimensions, and that's what I'll bring in my fight against Sosa. For my last fight, I wasn't prepared well. This time I will be very much prepared, so I can walk away with my hand raised."

Sosa (20-2-4, 15 KOs), 29, a Puerto Rico native fighting out of Camden, New Jersey, won a secondary junior lightweight world title by 11th-round upset knockout of Javier Fortuna in Beijing in June 2016 and retained the title by decision against Stephen Smith last November in Monte Carlo. But then Sosa vacated the belt in order to facilitate a lucrative fight with titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko, who dominated him en route to a ninth-round knockout on April 8. Sosa is seeking to rebound from that loss.